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must confess that `all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags' in comparison, and like the
Apostle, we gladly relinquish all such claim, that we may be found in Christ, not having
our own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is by faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith.
If the reader should still feel that the righteousness that is imputed to the believer is
the righteousness attained by the obedience of Christ to the law of Moses, let him
consider the following:
(1)
Is it not abundantly clear, that the whole doctrine of imputed righteousness is given its fullest
and clearest exposition in Rom. 4:?
(2)
Is it not also as abundantly clear that the great outstanding example and illustration of this
doctrine of imputed righteousness is that of Abraham, of whom it is written "And he
believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15: 6)?
(3)
Inasmuch as Abraham lived before Moses was born and so before the Mosaic law was
instituted, it is utterly impossible that the justification of Abraham can have anything to do
with obedience to that law, imputed or otherwise.
(4)
Does an examination of either Gen. 15: or of Rom. 4: permit the slightest intrusion of
obedience to law either by Abraham himself or the Lord for him? If the answer must be
"No" then the teaching that splits the great work of Christ into His active obedience under
the law of Moses, and His passive obedience in death, must be repudiated
(5)
It is written that we are justified "by His blood" (Rom. 5: 9).
Let us not by any system of theology veil that simple yet all-embracive fact.
No.7.
The basic meaning of righteousness.
pp. 117 - 120
We have seen that although salvation is by grace through faith and is not of works,
that nevertheless the most exacting claim of even-handed justice has been met. We now
continue our study in this fundamental of our faith to discover how this righteousness in
which we stand, this righteousness which Christ has been made unto us, becomes our
own.
The word which will form the focus of our investigation must be the word `justify'.
Our first concern must be to discover the primitive meaning of the term as expressed in
the Hebrew and Greek equivalents. While we can say `glory' and `glorify' we cannot say
`righteous' and `righteously'. Nor can we accept the word `rectify' for that today has
shades of meaning that do not fit the case. The English borrows from the Anglo-Saxon
riht for one word, and from the Latin jus for the other, and their common origin is
demonstrated by an appeal to the Greek original.
Joseph is said to be a `just' man, and the adjective employed is dikaios (Matt. 1: 19).
The same Greek word appears in Matt. 9: 13 where it is translated `righteous'. So in
John 5: 30 we read "My judgment is just" and in John 7: 24 "Judge righteous